Bert Grant's Imperial Stout
A truly Imperial stout with a touch of honey for smoothness, the flavor impact of a strong espresso, and a high final gravity.
3.4
216 reviews
Yakima, United States
Community reviews
A fairly regular stout, not very creamy. Some coffee, easy drink. Average mouthfeel.
Bottle from Super Saver, Somerville, NJ. The pour is deep black with a 2-finger khaki head. The aroma is of dark patent malt, dark chocolate, some brown sugar and wheaties. The taste is dark malty, with some slight tartness, chocolate, and molasses. The palate is on the light side for this style, but this beer wasn’t bad. Farewell.
Pours a dark brown with a small light tan creamy head. Aroma of cocoa, light coffee, a rosty sweetness and some caramel. Flavor of chocolate, coffe and some honey. A bit thin.
Poured a dark brown color with a small, tan head that left light lacing on the glass. Aroma of chocolate, smoke, roasty malts, and some dried fruits. Taste of chocolate, smoke, dried fruits, some sour cherry, and faint lactose.
(03.26.06) Stout/porter sampling with Scott, Tony and Walt at DiCarlo’s, Mundelein, IL. 12 oz brown bottle as gift from Thaichile. 6% ABV. Label states that beer was bottled on 11/19/04. Pour black with tiny off-white head. No discernable carbonation. Dried fruit (prune?) in the nose. Medium bodied stout that starts with light sweet malt and prune/winey/roasted malt flavors. The port wine character is strong. Finishes dry with light roasted malt and bitterness fade. Thin textured. Somewhat complex in flavor, this oxidized vintage beer is past its prime. This beer deserves a re-rate if this beer is ever unretired. Thanks Thaichile for the bottle.
A weal nutty chocolate aroma is all that can be detected. This black solution rests under a thick mocha colored head. This thick beer has no real stand out flavors. It takes a few drinks to piece together the coffee and bitter peanut taste.
here’s the first american-brewed imperial stout--according to michael jackson-- so when you hang your honker over this one, you’re suddenly transported to an awe-inspiring national historic landmark, like the corn palace or the birthplace of minnie pearl. as with all big ebony stouts, we find raters attempting to push or beguile light through the dark liquid, and in appreciative tones declaring the liquid "jet black" or some such descriptor that grapples with the notion of total opacity. i myself undertook the challenge of presumed darkness and fired a battlefield grade U.S. navy rocket flare through the beer: a 110 mm canister of phosphorus burning at over 12,000 degrees fahrenheit, able to light a dark stadium to daylight conditions. discharging it, i was instantly blinded for life, but witnesses with welder’s goggles testified that once within the beer, darkness fell like a biblical eclipse, and a moment later the flare canister itself plopped impotently out the far side of the beer like a desiccated rabbit turd-- smoking and sizzling and as blackened as the beer itself. so the beer is dark indeed. the head is a muscular appendage that flexes in cocoa butter brown when appreciative eyes are upon it-- when a pour or brisk swirl signals that it’s "show time". to take in the aroma, my nose dances over the beer like a shopper at a fruit market fire-sale, collecting baskets full of burnt raisins and coconut husks and oily boards lifted from beneath a coffee roaster. with leathery flavors seemingly distilled from a generation of greasers and their biker jackets and sweaty loafers, it’s pleasantly sweet with a medium body, i get sizzled apple sap and vanilla, creamy iced latte´s --and everything is served up with a twist of bitter tangerine rind. with very little apparent alcohol, this waif accomplishes in whispers what heavyweight imperials must express by screaming. i don’t care whatcha call it: imperial stout or robust porter, please be nice to this old beer, the jackie robinson of imperials; the old boy is retired now, and deserves a little ovation. hip hip horay bert!
Rich chocolate aroma, some coffee too, basic black, tiny cappuccino head. Flavour is sweetened coffee, quite bitter,very smooth drinking. Extra nice offering. Thanks to HogTownHarry.
bottle. black body with a small ring of mocha head. the aroma is subtle creamy roast, lots of coffee, and mild chocolate. flavours consist of raisins, caramel, light alcohol, and bittersweet chocolate. the finish is warm and fairly dry. nice
Black/brown with a small tan head. Roasted, coffee flavor and aroma. Not bad, but many better choices.
Rich black with minimal head. Malt, coffee & alcohol in the sharp aroma. Taste is smooth and rich with a touch of hops. Enjoyable.
crude oil in color with a thin lingering cocoa cocoa colored head. Aroma is a little off with medium malt content noted. Taste is thin, watery, and overall below average. Finish is short and non-descript.
22 oz capped bottle, [2004 version, sampled October 2005]: jet black with a dense and persistent dusty chocolate cream. Dark cocoa and bitter coffee bean aroma with and burnt roasted nuttiness. Burnt carbon on the tongue, the freshness and sweet hop and chocolate caramel flavours have all but left this bottle. Creamy, milkiness on the palate. Strong coffee finish provides a spark as the evening drags on – you know that sweetness that coats that mouth after the first couple of sips of Joe in the morning; that is when you know you are ready to go! This one held up very well for more than a year, I have had too many that haven’t to know what a great feat that is. Well done!
Courtesy of Bockyhorsey.
Rich chocolate and mild coffee aroma. Deep purple/black with a thumb thick blue tinted mocha head. Extremely low alcohol for the style. Feels much more like a stout than an Imperial. But it still tastes good. Chocolate, mild coffee, medium bitterness and somewhat scottish peat flavored in the aftertaste. Not really an Imperial stout, but still a tasty, though thin in the middle, brew.
Bittersweet marshmallow, cocoa and well roasted nutty malts dominate the nose. It pours an almost black hue, the head being foamy, brownish, mostly lasting. Sweet vinous juiciness (incidentally slightly sour) bring raisin reminiscent fruitiness, but the roastiness dominate. Rather bland (as in not really coffee or cocoa hinting) roastiness takes over and finishes it off rather quick. Quite mild flavor and mouthfeel wise yet the alcohol gets felt in the finish. The kind of beer that doesn’t really change at all as it warms. Not very impressed with this brewery so far..
Ug. Pours a black body with a smallish head. Aroma is roasty with hints of coffee and chocolate. However, something about it felt weak. Then the flavor itself - WEAK. If this was a stout it would be a blah stout, but for an imperial stout this is pathetic. It’s almost watery. Roasty flavor with coffee and chocolate, but it’s weak and nearly watery. Pathetic for the style.
Bottle. Smoked, roasted peat-like aroma that is somewhat faint in nature. Roasts are apparent, though. Mostly opaque dark-brown/black with a small tan head. Roasted, burnt, bitter, bah, monotony cookie-cutter "imperial stout". Crap.
Bottle (12oz). Poured almost opaque black with a big light brown/dark brown mixed rocky-creamy head. Aroma had tons of dark chocolate, deep roast malt, yeast (almost like mild cottage cheese), some winey fruits and plenty of loamy peat. Taste is very bitter, but in a metallic-soil way, some cream and chocolate and hops in the mix, but I can’t get the dirt out of my mind. It’s also quite dry and almost woody. Light bodied for the type, creamy and minerally. Starts really well, but it’s just a little too metallic-harsh for me to give it a big thumbs up; more of a strong porter than an Impy Stout
Dark brown with a somewhat loose head. Lots of dried fruit in the aroma, particularly raisin, perhaps dates. Leading edge of the chocolate, but a very curious mix of flavours begins to disturb me. A little bit chemical and astringent, somewhat lactic in my opinion. Really not very enjoyable among imperial stouts.
BOttle. Nose-prune, raisin, fig, dusty. Taste-amazingly dull, musty taste. After such a big nose, the flavor is amazingly flat. Finish is like cigarette smoke. Raw, raisin, rough taste.
I’m not really sure what’s "Imperial" about this stout as it reminds me of Guiness and other basic stoutswith the exception of a mellow honey aftertaste.
(Bottle, courtesy of Nuffield) Pours a black body with a thin tan head. Aroam of roasted malt, dustiness, and vegetables (green pepper, celery, cabbage). Flavor of raosted malt with a dry, funky spicy V-8 juice-like finish.
from the dfw impy tasting. pours black with a slightly orange head. aroma is dusty lettuce and figs and green raisins. taste is flat even though it is carbonated. watered down dirty taste, some roast bitterness. i concur with the facial expression of nuffield, he looks like he hasn’t decided if he will spit it out or choke it down and cuss. a bad licorice finish.
Poured very dark brown with a creamy tan head. Excellent head retention. Smell had chocolate, espresso, caramel and mocha. Taste was fine but a little too sweet. It reminded me of a strong porter more then a stout. Good espresso mouthfeel. Went well with espresso. Go figure.
Very dark brown/black body. Creamy tan/brown head. Very chocolatey aroma… roasted dark chocolate. Creamy and coating roasted/burnt dark chocolate and coffee flavor. Some light piney bitterness in there, as well as some fruit late in the finish. Its good overall, and actually quite balanced and enjoyable.
Black, opaque with a thin brown head. The nose is roasty with hints of fruit, light semi-bitter chocolate, coffee bean. The mouthfeel is a bit spritzy but gets better. A semi-sweet middle with a light roastiness finishing somewhat bitter with a hint of mint. A nice imperial with a West Coast hop feel.
Bottle at Andy’s. Deep dark brown in color with a nice tan head. Malty hoppy aroma. Chocolate caramel notes. Malty hoppy flavor. Very roasty. Caramel notes. Nutty. Well balanced. Full bodied.
Drinkable.
from the bottle. poured black with a small brown head. aroma chocolate, coffee malts, coco, dark cherries, and a hint of hops and molasses. flavor, dark chocolate, dark fruits, some smoke, malts, got a touch of honey as it warmed. not to bad of a beer
Pours a dark brown with dark brown head. Smells of coffee and chocolate. Tastes is roasted coffee, chocolate, and a bit of sweetness that must be from the honey. Mildly hopped, It seems a bit thin and watery in the finish. Lacks the punch that most Imperials pack. That aside it’s a pretty decent beer.
Bottle shared with GregClow, tupalev & jerc -- courtesy of GregClow. Pours a black body with a small light-brown head. Aroma of milk chocolate, roasted malt, coffee and a touch of hops. The flavour follows the aromabut is a touch mild, not enough coffee or chocolate. Quite dry and a little thin bodied. Very good.